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YerrytheYanitor's avatar
YerrytheYanitor
8 years ago
Solved

I spent $20, and this is what I get?

I'm just trying to play C&C Red Alert 2 on my Windows 10 PC. I spent $20 in Origin for the Ultimate Collection, and this is what I get? How do I fix this?
  • Nyerguds's avatar
    Nyerguds
    8 years ago

    Command & Conquer 1, Red Alert 1 and Tiberian Sun have all been upgraded with community-created unofficial patches that fix a lot of their bugs and compatibility problems. For Red Alert 2 there's a more general patch that solves a lot of its graphics problems. You can find them here:

    Command & Conquer 1:

    Red Alert 1:

    Tiberian Sun:

    Red Alert 2:

    • The graphics system patch DDWrapper is known to solve a multitude of graphics problems, including the "black screen" issue.
      Download the zip file and extract "ddraw.dll" and "aqrit.cfg" into your game folder. Then, open the configuration file "aqrit.cfg" in Notepad, change the "ForceDirectDrawEmulation" option to 1, save the file, and try running the game again.

    Note that if you still have graphical problems with the games, like the thing you got there, you should go into the game folder, find all executables in there, open their properties, go to the "Compatibility" tab, and enable the option to "disable display scaling", since display scaling often messes up old games. The option can also be disabled globally in Windows.

    Besides that, make sure to enable the Run as Administrator option on all of the pre-C&C3 games in the pack; they need to be able to access their game folder, and chances are you installed the games in Program Files, where programs aren't normally allowed to write.

Nyerguds's avatar
Nyerguds
Hero+
8 years ago

Command & Conquer 1, Red Alert 1 and Tiberian Sun have all been upgraded with community-created unofficial patches that fix a lot of their bugs and compatibility problems. For Red Alert 2 there's a more general patch that solves a lot of its graphics problems. You can find them here:

Command & Conquer 1:

Red Alert 1:

Tiberian Sun:

Red Alert 2:

  • The graphics system patch DDWrapper is known to solve a multitude of graphics problems, including the "black screen" issue.
    Download the zip file and extract "ddraw.dll" and "aqrit.cfg" into your game folder. Then, open the configuration file "aqrit.cfg" in Notepad, change the "ForceDirectDrawEmulation" option to 1, save the file, and try running the game again.

Note that if you still have graphical problems with the games, like the thing you got there, you should go into the game folder, find all executables in there, open their properties, go to the "Compatibility" tab, and enable the option to "disable display scaling", since display scaling often messes up old games. The option can also be disabled globally in Windows.

Besides that, make sure to enable the Run as Administrator option on all of the pre-C&C3 games in the pack; they need to be able to access their game folder, and chances are you installed the games in Program Files, where programs aren't normally allowed to write.

YerrytheYanitor's avatar
YerrytheYanitor
8 years ago

Wow. Thank you for your help Nyerguds. Just from one comment, you have been 100x more helpful than any EA representative I have spoken to. My game works now!

Also, I would like to apologize for being so cold in my initial post.

  • Nyerguds's avatar
    Nyerguds
    Hero+
    8 years ago

    @YerrytheYanitor

    Well, I'm not actually an EA representative; I'm just a volunteer here 😉

    Patching of these older games has been in the hands of the community for quite a while now. Given the fact no original programmers from these games have been employed at EA for over a decade now, us fan-patchers simply know a lot more about these games' internals than anyone at EA, which honestly isn't anyone's fault; they're just really old games.

    I do wish someone at EA would finally find an excuse to make the final game of the classic Westwood engine, namely Red Alert 2, freeware... like the three before it already are. It becomes loads easier to maintain games if you don't have to worry about preserving any kind of DRM.

    • YerrytheYanitor's avatar
      YerrytheYanitor
      8 years ago

      Yeah, that was my point lol. I knew you weren't an EA representative, that's why I was comparing your helpfulness to theirs. Even EA's own representatives couldn't give me a clear and concise answer like yours. 🙂

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